This invention pertains generally to air-to-ground guided missile systems and particularly to systems of such type wherein a synthetic aperture radar is used to provide a map of optical quality of the terrain underlying an aircraft so that the position of ground targets may be determined with precision and an air-to-ground missile may be accurately guided to impact on any selected one of such ground targets.
It has been postulated for some years that, in the field of guidance systems for air-to-ground guided missiles, advantage could very well be taken of the speed and precision with which radar maps may be generated by processing echo signals to a synthetic aperture radar to provide guidance systems having "all-weather" capability.
Any satisfactory "All Weather Tactical Strike System" (hereinafter referred to by the acronym "AWTSS") must, in addition to possessing a guidance capability for air-to-ground guided missiles, have a capability of functioning as a navigational aid for the aircraft carrying the AWTSS and as a target acquisition and tracking means. All of the required functions, further, must be carried out in a hostile environment, meaning when the aircraft is maneuvering violently to avoid interdicting fire and when electronic countermeasures are being taken by the enemy. The fact that satisfactory operation in a hostile environment is a requisite has, to date, made it impossible to provide an AWTSS which may be used with any reasonable confidence of success.